The Phoenix Club

The Phoenix Club

Type	working-men's club
First appearance	14 January 2001
Location	Farnworth, Bolton
Owner	Brian Potter
Key people	Phoenix Nights characters

The Phoenix Club is a fictional working men's club in Farnworth near Bolton, and is the centerpiece of the acclaimed UK sitcom Phoenix Nights.

The Phoenix Club is home to entertainment of all types, including Bingo, singing, cabaret and a wide range of themed nights. The club was created and is run by Brian Potter along with his staff.

Employees

The club has a number of workers, all with their own part to it.

• Brian Potter: Owner of the club, who goes to any extremes to keep it still standing.
• Jerry St.Clair: Cabaret singer and fall guy of the show. He later becomes licensee of the club
• Ray Von: A former fairground gypsy and electrician, who is the club's DJ and sound engineer.
• Max and Paddy: The two doormen of the club.
• Les and Alan: The two backing players with both drums and keyboard known as "Les Alanos".
• Kenny Senior: A handiworker at the club and habitual liar. Claims to have stayed in a tent next to Robert DeNiro in Pwllheli and beat him at Swingball
• Young Kenny: A young, rather simple handyman.
• Mary (Holy Mary): Bar worker and devout Christian.
• Spencer: Gormless but enthusiastic young barman.
• Ant and Dec: Two illegal Chinese immigrants whom the club accidentally brought into the country. Employed by thrifty Brian Potter as chefs.

Layout

The club follows the layout of a typical working men's club, with a large cabaret room along with a lounge area (called 'The Pennine Suite' in the opening series). In an attempt to diversify and attract more customers, the lounge is later converted into a successful Chinese restaurant. There is also a games room in the club, that was named, The "Jocky Wilson Suite" in the first series, and the "Tony Knowles Suite" in the second. In the first series the room was shown as a home to the games supplied by "Dodgy Eric" such as the wonky snooker table, the bucking bronco and the child's aeroplane ride. In the second series, the games room is used more as lounge and general social area with dining tables, although there is a dart board and a new snooker table. The solarium is also just off through a door from this room. The Pennine suite served as a general large lounge and social area in the first series but was seldom seen in the second series; it contains a small stage which was used for Wednesday free and easy nights. Eventually it was replaced by a brand new Chinese restaurant. The other room in the club is a larger cabaret style room which plays host to larger features such as Talent Trek and Stars in their eyes.

History

Throughout the two series of Phoenix Nights, an ongoing theme of the show is the rivalry between The Phoenix Club, and local rival club 'The Banana Grove', run by the flamboyant Den Perry. Brian Potter will devise ideas for the club to attract more customers, usually to the disapproval of Jerry St.Clair. However, as more people come to the club, the more popular the club becomes than its rivals, but this is at the expense of Brian Potter's thrifty ways, cutting corners in the running of the club wherever possible.

The second series follows on from the first. Following the staging of the highly regarded local talent contest 'Talent Trek' a vengeful Den Perry burns the club down. With the authorities taking a dim view of Potter's poor attitude towards fire and suspend his licence. Potter then rebuilds the club on the cheap, but with Jerry St. Clair as the licensee. The club bounces back and regains its popularity, with schemes such as placing a fake speed camera outside of the club to slow motorists down, and a re-enactment of the club's arson on TV show 'Crimetime' (a parody of Crimewatch) in order to gain free advertising.

Eventually, Den Perry unwittingly reveals to most of the local clientele that he burned down the Phoenix Club, and the club is victorious.